Saturday, 5 February 2022

Fun Vile It Lasted

I have finished rereading Poul Anderson's "Captive of the Centaurianess" and cannot find it within myself to post much more about it! Airtight wooden spaceships that do not need an extra air supply because they cross an interstellar distance in hours! 

When, on the very last page of Mirkheim, Chee Lan says:

"'We enjoyed the trader game as long as that lasted.'"
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT XXI, p. 291 -
 
- she and we reminisce about the entire trader team series which had begun with "The Trouble Twisters" in the previous volume of the Saga whereas, when the Centaurianess says:
 
"'It vas fun vile it lasted, our romp, vasn't it?'"

- she refers only to this single story but that is plenty.
 
I need to return to serious sf and will start with Anderson's "Kyrie" and with the question whether this story could fit into his Technic History.
 
("Kyrie" was published in The Farthest Reaches (1968) edited by Joseph Elder.)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

"Captive" was not the only story where we see Anderson humorously playing with implausible spaceships. There was also THE MAKESHIFT ROCKET/A BICYCLE BUILT FOR BREW (1962). I still remember how much that story made me laugh when I first read it! Also, if I recall correctly, Anderson gave a good deal of thought to how the makeshift rocket of that story might work.

Ad astra! Sean